Next month I will be attending the wedding of a close friend of mine. It's sure to be a blast and while they have hired a pro to cover the event, I really want to take some great pictures. Normally, I would probably cover a wedding using a pretty typical equipment kit. Two DSLR bodies, three or four lenses and a couple of TTL strobes would probably do the trick. But, for this event I have decided to try and do something a little different. First of all, I plan to shoot the entire event in black and white. Second, I plan to use only available light. That's right, no flash whatsoever.

I think I have a few options here. The ideal digital tool for the job would be something along the lines of a Canon 5D MKII, or some other small DSLR that does really great in low light and high ISO. This camera coupled with a fixed, fast lens like the 24 f/1.4 or 35 f/1.4 would be just about all I'd need.

Of course I don't currently have any of this equipment, so I would have to either borrow or rent.

Alternatively, I could try and shoot this event on film using Tmax p3200.  I have used this film plenty of times in the past, and it's really great stuff. The grain is HUGE, but smooth and pleasant, and you can even push it a stop or two if you really need to. Of course, I'd need to acquire a bunch of it ( please tell me Kodak still makes this stuff ) and, I'd need to set up a processing line to get at the images.

I have a new project. It uses something called The Mechanical Turk. The above video is a sort of proof of concept, using bogus data. I will have much, much more to say about all of this, but my dogs are crying to go for a walk, so I have my priorities…. BRB!

-m

I am still very impressed with the LX3. It has become my "main" camera over the last couple of weeks. I take it everywhere and I have been having fun seeing what it can do. It has a few little intricacies that took me some time to learn, but I am getting pretty proficient with it now and very happy about the results.

The picture above was shot in Standard Color mode and converted to B+W in Photoshop beginning with the RAW file. I used the Silver Efex plugin for P-Shop for this one ( and most of my other B+W images ) as I have been having some great success with it and find it very easy to use.

One advantage to using the Silver Efex plugin in P-Shop vs. Aperture is that I can save the file as a Smart Object, which allows me to go back into the Silver Efex filter and make changes. I really wish I could do this in Aperture.

At school I actually made TWO whole prints. I haven't really printed anything in years, so it was a great bunch-o-fun for me. I was REALLY impressed with the quality, and I went and ordered a whole roll of Ilford Gallery Gold Fibre Silk from B+H. I've also been working with the Grad Lab to get the Epson 4800 printer calibrated for this paper.